AANHPI HISTORY AND BLACK HISTORY BONDED TOGETHER

AANHPI HISTORY AND BLACK HISTORY BONDED TOGETHER

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2025)] [House] [Page H826] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] AANHPI HISTORY AND BLACK HISTORY BONDED TOGETHER (Mr. TAKANO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, Black history has shaped our country, and I am proud to celebrate Black History Month with my Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus colleagues. The coalition of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders, and Black Americans has worked hand-in-hand for generations to advance racial equality. That coalition was on full display during Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 when he wore a lei gifted to him by Reverend Abraham Akaka of Hawaii. It existed even on the battlefield. Senator Daniel Inouye was a proud and decorated member of the legendary 442nd Infantry Regiment. He recalled how he sustained injuries in combat, which resulted in the loss of his arm, and that it was soldiers from the 92nd Division, a segregated African-American unit, who provided him with the blood for the 17 transfusions that kept him alive. AANHPI history and Black history are inextricably tied together and, in the case of Senator Inouye, a blood bond uniting our two communities together. ____________________